hHANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — Now it’s time to get serious about this streak.

Isn’t it?

The players in the Miami Heat locker room can downplay it all they want, but the pressure is on now. They’ve captured win No. 22, tying the Houston Rockets for the second-longest win streak in NBA history and the Los Angeles Lakers’ record 33-game streak is within their grasp, theoretically.

There is that little business to handle in Boston Monday night, against the same team that ended the Rockets’ streak five years ago to the day. And this is the same Boston team that has served as the nemesis for the Heat (the past two years) and LeBron James (for years before that while he was in Cleveland), before the guys in green got their AARP cards and lost Rajon Rondo for the season.

Heat upcoming schedule

Day

Date

Loc.

Opponent

Time (ET)

TV

Mon.

3/18

@

Boston

8 p.m.

ESPN

Wed.

3/20

@

Cleveland

7 p.m.

League Pass

Fri.

3/22

vs.

Detroit

7:30 p.m.

League Pass

Sun.

3/24

vs.

Charlotte

6 p.m.

League Pass

Mon.

3/25

@

Orlando

7 p.m.

League Pass

Wed.

3/27

@

Chicago

8 p.m.

ESPN

Fri.

3/29

@

New Orleans

8 p.m.

League Pass

Sun.

3/31

@

San Antonio

7 p.m.

NBA TV

They don’t pen scripts this rich in Hollywood these days — reigning champs show up on hated rival’s doorstep with a chance to continue their dominance and continue their historical chase with all the world watching (on ESPN). But that’s exactly what we’ll have to feast on Monday night, thanks to the Heat’s disposal of the Raptors in Toronto this afternoon for win No. 22 in their championship march.

A week ago, fresh off of their pounding of the Indiana Pacers at American Airlines Arena, man after man in the Miami locker room stressed that the streak was not on their minds. It wasn’t an issue, not for a team focused on bigger things.

“We’re just in a good place right now,” said Heat veteran Ray Allen then. “For me personally, it doesn’t really play into our conscience.

“Our goal day-to-day is to continually get better. Every team we play gets tougher. There is an emphasis right now on the small things. We know our weaknesses and strengths and we try to play to our strengths as much as we can. We know if we take care of the small things we give ourselves a great chance to win every night. And that’s the most important thing. We don’t want to have a mishap and start looking too far ahead, focusing on ourselves and what a great team we have. Our goal is to stay focused and keep grinding it out.”

Sure, of course it is. But that was before they crossed the 20-game threshold; before Allen shredded the Raptors for 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter of a hotly contested game (for a while) for win No. 22; before they peaked ahead and realized that No. 23 could come at the expense of the Celtics, one of the few teams that would have this game circled and highlighted the same way the Heat would (if they were completely honest with us about what it means to be in the midst of such a historic run).

There will be not shortage of reminders of not only what’s at stake Monday night, but also who can prevent the Heat from moving another step closer to that record — the Celtics, of all teams. Allen’s old teammates. The same crew that served as the Heat’s biggest hurdle last season on their way to the Finals and that Larry O’Brien trophy.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers can get his team riled up on a regular Monday, with just a few choice words and just the right poke at a particular player. The Heat coming to town under these circumstances is motivational gold, the fire starter any Eastern Conference playoff outfit worth it’s spit in the pecking order lives for.

Allen knows this better than anyone, having won 19 in a row with the Celtics during the 2008-09 season alongside Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Rondo.

You’re either the hunter or the hunted in this situation. And both offer a certain level of excitement for all involved. Toss in the fact that there isn’t a city, franchise or team that appreciates the rich history of this game more than the Boston, the Celtics and this particular crew, and you can see why they are so eager for their crack at the Heat.

“What does [a win Monday] get you when you play Atlanta in the first round?” Rivers told ESPNBoston.com. “It doesn’t do anything that you beat Miami. [Another opponent] could care less. If you caught Miami later [in the postseason]? I guess, for us, knowing that you can beat them, but we already know that. We’ve beaten them earlier in the year. But you still want to beat them, they are the world champs, they are playing great — you don’t need any extra reason to want to beat them. At least we don’t. They face this every night, though. And it’s what we faced in 2008-09 [as defending champions], every night. That’s what makes their streak so impressive to me, they are getting the best from teams and still winning.”

The Heat certainly won’t get the Celtics’ very best, even though they’ve been a revelation without Rondo, piling up a 16-6 record since they lost him to that season-ending ACL tear.

Garnett is supposed to be “50/50 at best” for Monday night’s game. He’s battling an adductor muscle strain that kept him out of a Saturday night win over the Charlotte Bobcats.

But you can imagine how that Monday morning assessment of his readiness will go? As long as everything is connected …

“When you go on a 10-game winning streak it’s always commendable because of the way the schedule goes,” Allen said. “You play on the road and at home, Western Conference and Eastern Conference. Some teams there are just bad matchups. You’re just learning how to win. For us, we’ve been in situations where it looked like we should have lost the game, but we put ourselves in situations to make plays down the stretch. We’ve learned how to play the game down the stretch — starting quarters and finishing quarters — those are the little things that help you win games. And then doing it on someone else’s floor, winning that many in a row, it’s always great.

“But you don’t always get a prize for it. We know what our prize is and it’s waiting for us.”

You Heat fans are idiots! Just because Miami won 23 straight, you guys think you’re the best. Well if you look at their wins. Some have been pretty close games. Especially against mid-level teams like the Magic, Sixers and etc. You Heat fans talk like you’re so dominant that nobody can beat you. The Heat is lucky that most of the great teams they battle have injured star players. Just wait, the Spurs will CREAM you and make LeBaby cry to his mom!

Everybody has an opinion thats the beauty of this Country, that being said The reality is that the Heat have been much smarter about what they have done from Free agent acquisition, to Coaching stradegies. Its a shame when a team gets it all right all others have someting negative to say, thats fine let them bark, squeel, and anything else to say about the Heat, but at the end of the day, the Heat just did it better than anybody else.

WHATEVER..…. Celtics is done, their time had expired already. Yes they can still make a play, win a game and, do some defensive and offensive stuff but they cannot be a champion at their current lineup. Their Greatness is only a history no matter what you say. Now is the Heat era they maybe loss today’s game but at the end on the season still they will be crown as champion.

Imnot surprised and no one else should be. They are the most stacked team in the league. There worst player might be Cole or Miller and Miller drained 7 3’s in the finals last year against OKC. They have Battier, Haslem and Chalmers which are quality players, and then you have like 6 all stars, 4 HOF, and the best 3 point shooter of all time -all on the same team. Its ridiculous. But yeah, they should be winning. Im impressed to a point, but no way am I surprised. Surprising will be if they dont win the ring this year becasue honestly who can beat them. No one.

So what if the HEAT are arrogant ? So what if the HEAT are braggers ? They won 22 games in a row. Be is biased officiating or they played dirty. Do the other teams even had what it takes to beat the HEAT even if there was fair play ?

My Atlanta Hawks should have broken that streak but got beat like 3 times during… am I going to turn into a hater now? No. I’m glad the Heat are playing well and their team is healthy. I wish all teams played to their potential and players stayed healthy. It’s better for the league and it is awesome to watch. No one would be surprised if the Heat lost to the Celtics but most people expect them to win right now.

If any team can stop Heat it’s the Celtics. However if they can is another question. If the chemistry is right, certain players feeling it, then I believe the Heat will have some problems. And remember, no Rondo, and probably no KG. So Heat has the advantage as it is, but as history has shown, do not underestimate the Celtics. If you do, you will have a bad time.

The Celtics are lying, the Heat are lying. Everyone says that they dont care about the winning streak. I dont believe a word from either side. I’m so pumped for this game like its a playoff match. How can these guys try to play it down? The pressure is on the Heat. Losing against the Celtics who ended the Rockets streak on the exact same day 5 years ago would be devastating to the players. Prepare for a bar fight!

The fact is NO team has been more competition to the (JAMES, WADE, BOSH) Miami Heat then the Boston Celtics period. Lebron even admitted that he joined with Wade and Bosh to get past the Celtics. That team was constructed solely to get out of the eastern conference. The two (JAMES-WADE) couldn’t do it separately against them despite years of trying. Eric Spoelstra admitted that he studied and wanted to duplicate Bostons defense. Lets be honest for once, ANY team with THREE allstars in their prime should be winning that many games in a row or even more. The 07-08 Celtics did it with three allstars toward the end of their career which is much more impressive to me. Last year the OKC didn’t even last seven games in the finals against Miami after winning the first game. I would love for Boston to win tonight but that would be ignorant bliss. No Rondo and KG isn’t 100%, doesn’t sound like the odds are in our favor. Boston did win against the heat (without Rondo) the last time they met in a gut-wrenching double overtime battle. I believe the Boston Celtics has more heart to me then any other team, the FACT is the heat are looking like the monstars from spacejam. They are incredible, I can’t deny that, however, given the circumstances THEY SHOULD BE. If you throw James, Wade, and Bosh on the Wizards they would be incredible as well lol. It will be a great game! GO CELTICS

Well said. Boston is the one team Miami really does not want to see in the playoffs. It doesn’t matter what happens in the regular season. The Celtics do have more heart than any team in the league, and even if you don’t like them, you have to respect them. They lose their star, their standout rookie, and Barbosa and they started playing BETTER. Anyone who doubts Doc and his team are fools. Miami fears Boston.

to all haters out there..its fun to watch games or teams that you dont like..are you..,,,Im a heat fan…they deserve to be respected..they put their A game every night on the court..but every streak will always come to an end,,in their accomplishment right now..respect is the best…

If Paul Peirce has a big game and the bench step up, I like the Celtics chances at winning this. Celtics struggle mightily on the offensive end for long stretches so I don’t know if they can keep up with Miami if they do struggle

I hope Boston wins. As the guys were talking during the halftime of the LAC – NYK game Miami is fortunate that all of their rivals in the east are in trouble because of injuries (Rondo, Rose, Granger,…). I can’t see anybody challenge them for the east. And I hope San Antonio comes up on top in the west, because Oklahoma can’t win againts Miami.

James will get shut down by bradley because bradley is one of the best defensive players in the league and i decided to be a boston fan cause i realised that the heat aren’t very good compared to the celtics

cant wait. go heat, seeing something special and being a part of history makes for the greatest memories. the NBA is a freaky comodity how does this sort of stuff always happen in the NBA? the heat start the streak in toronto, equal the rockets record.. in toronto on a sunday also, then they go to play the team that hates them the most to try and break the second place record, on national TV. cant write these scripts.

Isn’t it strange that after losing Rondo, Boston seem like one of the only teams in the East that have clear direction? Their ball movement has been great since they lost Rondo, and their defense has stepped up big time. Other than the Spurs, I think they’re the only team that might be able to stop the Heat’s streak, at least at home. Ok, they did lose to Charlotte a few days ago, but otherwise they’ve been pretty solid, including beating Miami the last time they played. Other than Indiana, Miami and Boston, the East is a total train wreck.

Heat Fans are outnumbered by bandwagon haters…. mostly by other team fans that the HEAT included on their streaks… some just a jealous fans… mostly lakers,pacers,bulls,celtics bkn,lac,okc fans… Why so much hate???? Just give credit where credit is due… Or just simply CRY…..

Sometimes I think people claim to be fans of a team just so others will read their comments. This is one of those times… Boston is a dangerous team with some wily veteran players–but no one, especially a Heat fan, could say they are better than Miami.

I don’t see how miami can win yes they have a great team and lots of weapons off the bench but what does boston have that miami don’t wade vs Bradey wade aint got nothing on him what lebron yeah ok easily one of the best probably the best player right now but he has to put up with D from Green and pierce and they can rotate bradley onto him and put lee on to wade, That leaves them with bosh even on a 50/50 kevin Garnett he will have troubles garnett is easily on of the best defensive players and has been for the past 12 or so years. It will be a good game but its at bostons home and there on a 11 win streak at home i think it will be hard. i put my money on BOSTON!

No doubts, it will definitely be a tough match for the heat against the celtics, the team in green usually raises their game when playing james and co., and the fact that ray allen decided to jump ship over to the heat will still be on their minds, and they will be desperate to prove that they can be right up there with the best.

However, if the heat beat the celtics, and I believe they will, I think its entirely possible for them to match or better the lakers 33 game winning streak, barring any injuries to their superstars.

realistically speaking, it’s hard for the heat to compete with the 33 winning streak by lakers. but i’m sure the heat will go for the top 2 record. i think they’ll play hard for the boston game. the streak will go 23 or more to be the 2nd longest regular season streak. if the heat still manage to win games up to the spurs game, that gives them a 30 winning streak, if that happens, i think they’ll go for the lakers record

Let’s go Heat! Haters, it’s not about the streak, it’s bout “hard work” to be the best. If u dont like it and u dont have something good to say, just dont say anything and watch them puttin on the show even at your house, haters!

all I hear are cry baby’s who lost to Miami with a 3-2 lead at home. shut up and stop being haters. I believe Boston is one of the only teams in the east that can challenge the Champs. Regardless or KG playing or not wont mean a thing. The heat respond to L better then most teams in the NBA. That’s prob the reason why this streak is going on a lot of these teams on the streak beat them and the other point is getting ready for the post season. the real reg season starts after all star weekend. that’s when teams are playing for a spot in the playoffs. Regular season wins mean nothing in the playoffs, besides home court adv. and seating. Boston had there time and they got 1 ring out of it. appreciate that. be die hard just don’t be stupid when you put your opinion out the for the world to see.

It’s going to be a tough game for us Heatles to battle our way against the Celts.
But we don’t care about the streak at all. We’re building our team’s relationship and chemistry as we win game every game.

Just a great team trying to get better. What’s wrong with you people? You post as if you are jealous and as if it didn’t take an enormous amount of collective work and character to become as good as the Heat have made themselves. May the best team win on Monday. That’s it.

The officials make questionable calls all the time but the officiating wasn’t so bad thatb they cost the Celtics the series. They just lost to a better team. I’ll bet the Celtics got some questionable calls in their favor aswell but you wouldn’t notice as much because a Celtic’s fan would want their team to be getting those calls.

I am honestly tired of the streak. GO BOSTON! So far, there has been no team that has proved to me that they have stepped up to the plate, and can beat Miami. The Eastern conference is hopeless, but the west has potential. I think that the Grizzlies and Spurs could beat them, and maybe OKC as well.

“I think that the Grizzlies and Spurs could beat them, and maybe OKC as well.”

Note – the heat have beat all three during this streak.

Any team can win on any given night if someone gets hot enough.
At 5’6″ i still hold the record for the best game ever in a group of guys that played at least once a week for 15 years. i was one of the three or four bottom picked guys, but when I hit the zone I could easily make many shots in a row and that night I was unstoppable. The guys would give me the ball and i would go against 2 to 5 guys of the other team and my guys never crossed half court. They were falling down laughing.

Eventually the heat will have several guys play bad against a team that doesn’t fall apart in the 4th like the Raptors. Someone they don’t expect will go crazy and hit a bunch of shots at the end of the game and the Heat’ll miss theirs.

They Heat have so may weapons that its hard to choose who to stop. Lebron had two 13 point games and the Heat won both.

This game will be very interesting, because if the celtics win, they prove that they still have the ability to win it all. If they lose, then there is no team that can beat the heat (rhyming accidentally

How about we not attack fans whether they jumped on a bandwagon or not. The Heat are playing great basketball and ANY basketball fan would have to agree. The streak is just the tip of the iceberg. That defense is smothering and the role players are getting in the action i.e. Birdman off the couch. Just sayin.. Go Hawks!!

You mean something meaningful like all your previous posts? Lol you’re a joke..it’s ok to be sad/mad/insulted/depressed [insert adjetive] because the Heat are the best…but at least have the decency to control your emotions and don’t post something so dumb. It clearly makes you look very desperate. Just get used to it, unless something very wrong the Heat will be the best team for a long time.

this game won’t mean much for the Celts especially if Garnett is out. And I couldn’t care less about the Heat streak. The only reason I would like this streak to end is that the Heat is a team of braggers and I don’t wanna see their already arrogant faces getting all conceited with their frigging streak. Especially Wade. Go Celts!

Bro know your stuff. Listen to wades interview after the raptors game. gosh man you Heat fans are clueless to the nba. Just dumb. Horrible fan base. Thank god I don’t live in Miami and have to have the best player in the league bail my team out from misery and win a meaningless 2nd title.

What exactly does wade say? Seems to me your comment was “meaningless” because ALL you talked about was bs about the fans and nothing about the team. Yeah you talk about meaningless 2nd ring, your just envious. The fact that you already know they are getting a 2nd ring tells me everything. So next time speak basketball!

They can say Garnett is not going to play all they want and I will bet a 50 that he will be out there playing, and you don’t think the Celtics would be a team of braggers if they had won 22 in a row ? You live in a fantasy world mr. Jujubean. They are three times more arrogant than the Heat could ever think about being. It doesn’t matter anyway because the Heat are going to run over their green a—- anyway…….:) Go Heat !!!

I seriously believe that if Miami beats Boston tomorrow then they’ll break the Lakers’ record.I mean come on for the next 10 games they play Charlotte twice lol.The only team after Boston that can beat the heat is San Antonio.The Knicks are short-handed and Chicago is plain confused

I hate the spurs but Pop and crew will rain on miami’s parade and beat them. Spurs and the best coach in the game will win. Its too late though LBJ and his menions allready have thier glory. Oh well, if the players in the NBA wanna sit back and get beat by them and let them make them look stupid I guess I can handle it if they can.

gonna be a great game monday night…most of the remaining games for the heat are away…talk about a test to stay on the streak and beating teams on their home floor, but if any team can do this its this miami heat team…they are puttin work on these teams…